How Did The Battle of Thermopylae Happen

King Xerxes, son of Darius, ascended to the throne of Persia after his father's death in 486 BC. After securing the throne, Xerxes began to gather forces to invade Greece. By 480 BC, he had an army approximately 100,000 to 180,000 men and a fleet of nearly 600 ships, a large army by Greek standards. This time, instead of an invasion by sea, this massive army would cross the Hellespont, and march around the Aegean sea and conquer Greece by land.

Crossing the Hellespont proved to be troublesome to Xerxes and his army. They tried to cross the Hellespont with a bridge of boats, but the sea became rough and the bridge broke apart. When King Xerxes heard of this, he was furious, and gave orders that the sea should receive 300 lashes with whips. The sea did calm down and the second attempt to build a bridge was successful.

The Greeks heard of Xerxes' plan to gather an army and were better prepared for the invasion than in the first Persian War. Athenians and Spartans combined with about 29 other city-states, under the leadership of Sparta to oppose this powerful army, and the Athenians contributed a fleet of 200 triremes for their navy.

Themistocles, an Athenian general, urged the army to stop the invasion as far north as they could. Finally, a place was chosen for the first defence of Greece. This place was Thermopylae, a pass where it was only 60 feet wide. The Persian army arrived at Thermopylae and the Greeks were there waiting. This battle is known as The Battle at Thermopylae.

The pass at Thermopylae was a superb place to withstand an attack. Because it was so narrow, even with an army as large as the Persians had, only a small number could actually fight at any one time. This enables very few men to hold off enormous armies for long amounts of time.

The Greek army was about 10,000 strong and already in position when Xerxes and his army arrived. The Greek army was being led by the Spartan king Leonidas. The Persian Army attacked, but the Greeks held fast, and the Persian army suffered heavy losses. Time and time again the Persians attacked, but were turned away by the Greeks.

All seemed favorable for the Greeks, until a Greek traitor by the name of Ephialtes told Xerxes of an alternate route around the pass. This route, known to Leonidas, was only guarded by 1000 volunteering Phocaeans. The Greeks heard about the betrayal and about the Persian army that would soon surround them from the back. They decided to retreat, but Leonidas would stay with 300 other Spartans to hold the pass long enough to make an organized retreat. The last battle at Thermopylae ended with every last Spartan fighting until they were killed. The distraction gave enough time for the rest of the Greek army to retreat into southern Greece.

As a memorial to the 300 Spartans that stayed to fight, 3 inscriptions were set up. The first one, in honor of all, read:

Here did four thousand men from Pelops' land

Against three hundred myriads bravely stand.

Another was for the Spartans alone:

Go, stranger, and to Lacedaemon tell

That here, obeying her behests, we fell.

The third inscription was from a seer of Leonidas:

The great Megistias' tomb you here may view,

Whom slew the Medes, fresh from Spercheius' fords.

Well the wise seer the coming death foreknew,

Yet scorned he to forsake his Spartan lords